Copying text with footnotes

[Sunny10]

I am new to the forum, so I do not know, whether I should post under “Feature requests” or under “Plugin ideas”. I am happy for any suggestions or workarounds you know.

Use case or problem

I started using Obisidian as my main text editor for academic work. One huge problem I have with Obsidian, though, is copying and pasting parts of notes with footnotes. I am using tidy-footnotes and better footnote as plugins, which work wonderful, but – to my knowledge – do not offer any support for my problem.

Example:
Note 1:
This is the text I want to copy.[^1]
[^1]: This is the footnote I want to copy.

Note 2:
This is the text I want to insert the other text in.[^1]
[^1]: This is the already existing footnote with the same number.

Result so far, after copying note 1 in note 2 and also manually copying the footnotes:
Note 2:
This is the text I want to copy.[^1]
This is the text I want to insert the other text in.[^1]
[^1]: This is the footnote I want to copy.
[^1]: This is the already existing footnote with the same number.

Tidy footnotes leads to the following:

This is the text I want to copy.[^1]
This is the text I want to insert the other text in.[^1]
[^1]: This is the already existing footnote with the same number.

Result I want to get:
Note 2:
This is the text I want to copy.[^1]
This is the text I want to insert the other text in.[^2]
[^1]: This is the footnote I want to copy.
[^2]: This is the already existing footnote with the same number.

Comment: I do not want to merge notes, but only copy parts of notes with footnotes to another note and then rename/order the footnotes in the new note.

My problem was already asked in a shorter way in Extract this heading to include footnotes and Dealing with copy-pasting footnotes, without getting an answer.

Proposed solution

I do not have the perfect solution, but one idea: If I had a plugin, that could rename my footnotes in the note, I want to copy, (Note 1) then I could start the numbering at a very high number (e.g. 100). I then could copy the note and the footnotes manually and renumber with tidy footnotes. That might solve the problem.

Example:

Note 1:
This is the text I want to copy.[^1]
[^1]: This is the footnote I want to copy.

Renumbering footnotes in Note 1 through renumbering, starting with e.g. 100:
Note 1:
This is the text I want to copy.[^100]
[^100]: This is the footnote I want to copy.

Note 2:
This is the text I want to insert the other text in.[^1]
[^1]: This is the already existing footnote with the same number.

Result after copying manually:
Note 2:
This is the text I want to copy.[^100]
This is the text I want to insert the other text in.[^1]
[^100]: This is the footnote I want to copy.
[^1]: This is the already existing footnote with the same number.

Tidy footnotes then renders the wished result:

Note 2:
This is the text I want to copy.[^1]
This is the text I want to insert the other text in.[^2]
[^1]: This is the footnote I want to copy.
[^2]: This is the already existing footnote with the same number.

Current workaround

Until know, I am forced to renumber all the footnotes manually, which in academic work with 50+ footnotes per note is very tiresome and letting me think, that I will have to switch to LaTeX for text editing. If you know other workarounds, I would be really happy.

Related feature requests

Extract this heading to include footnotes

Steps to reproduce I have a note with two headings, where there is a footnote on some text in the first heading. The actual text of the footnote is at the bottom of the file. I then click “extract this heading” on the first heading in the file. Expected result I’d expect the footnotes to come with the body of the heading Actual result The footnotes are left in the original file. Environment Operating system: Windows Debug info: None Additional information

Dealing with copy-pasting footnotes

Things I have tried I have tried BetterFootnote, TidyFootnotes, and Linter to no avail: I still cannot copy-paste footnotes from one note to another without losing the configuration and making a total mess out of the footnotes. Deleting and moving footnotes within the same note is also a pain. I also use FootnoteShortcut to make the foonotes, this just a note. What I’m trying to do I want to cut and paste chunks of text between notes, which include footnotes, and have the footnotes reorder t…

Both did not get any answers.

Any help, ideas etc. will be highly appreciated.

[Michael88]

I completely agree. As a seminary student, discovering Obsidan was a delight. The fact that it integrates applications like Zotero and allows for footnotes is wonderful. However, if I am to curate and develop my second brain with Obsidian, the ability to edit notes while copying and pasting info into new notes is absolutely essential.

[mac_obs]

+1

This is what is keeping me from using the normal footnotes.
My current workaround is to use in line footnotes (e.g. “A text.^[Footnote]”). It can be copy-pasted without any problem, but they do not get displayed as footnotes in the live-preview so, except for reading mode, the text is really cluttered.

Maybe a more simple idea would be to have a plug-in that can convert all footnotes in inline footnotes and reverse. So you could convert to inline footnotes before you copy a text, paste the text into the new note, than convert the inline footnotes back to regular numbered footnotes.

[Michael88]

So I believe that I have discovered a solution. Though not perfect, it is sufficient for our purposes. You will need Microsoft word. Please follow the steps below:

1. Download a program called Writage. Once the program is downloaded and word refreshed, there will be a Writage ribbon tab in word. 2) When you click on the tab in word, you will see several options available (e.g., Open Markdown, Save As Markdown, etc.). What you want to do now is click on open markdown file, go to your obsidian vault folder, and open the files that you would like to merge. You will have to open each file individually. The files will open as new word docs. 3) Merge the content by copying and pasting content from one doc to the other. 4) Save the document that has been edited as a markdown file, overwriting the original note in your vault that needs to be replaced. Once this is done, the new note will have all the footnotes in the proper places. If you want to keep writing and adding footnotes, enter a space or two between the new and old content. For some reason this helps obsidian continue the footnotes working as they were before merging the two notes.

So there you have it. I know it takes a few steps, but it is really easy. It is not perfect but it does exactly what we need it to do. It also solved another problem I had which was to convert my papers in word to obsidian format. All I have to do is save them as markdown on word into my obsidian vault and I am good to go. I hope this helps. Blessings.

Michael

[Sunny10]

Thank you, @Michael88 , for your workaround. I just saw your answer. I have switched to @mac_obs solution for now. It is not perfect, but at least it works. As @mac_obs said, the text is cluttered while not in reading mode…